🌶️ __Spicy…__ Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with *additional* [charges](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/02/23/sam-bankman-fried-hit-with-additional-bank-fraud-charges-in-new-indictment/) this week, including bank fraud and campaign-finance charges. Officials said the former __FTX__ CEO broke donation laws to evade campaign-contribution limits. 

🤹‍♀️ __Quirky…__ A DAO (a crypto community where token holders call the shots) is [angling](https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/02/22/linksdao-to-bid-on-scottish-golf-course-following-vote/) to buy a Scottish golf course. The decentralized org, LinksDAO, plans to fund the $900K purchase through NFT sales.

🤖 __Techy…__ __[Coinbase](https://robinhood.com/stocks/COIN/)__ announced it's [launching](https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/23/coinbase-launches-blockchain-base-to-help-developers-build-dapps-on-chain/) a “layer-2” network on top of __ethereum__ with the goal of creating a space for developers to build decentralized apps (“dapps”) on the blockchain.

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__Thursday’s the new Friday?...__ The four-day workweek is #trending. Driving the hype: one of the largest [trials](https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-testing-four-day-week-companies-say-they-dont-want-to-stop-a06089cc) of a four-day workweek ever conducted. In the six-month study, 61 British companies across industries gave 2.9K workers one paid day off each week. The goal: determine whether they could be as productive while working less, but also more *effective* (think: fewer meetings). The results are in — and they’re promising: 

- __More than 90% of companies__ in the study said they’d continue testing the four-day week after seeing major reductions in turnover and absenteeism, in addition to productivity holding mostly steady. And 18 planned to make it permanent.

- __Happy days:__ The pilot found that many workers slept better, were less stressed, and were less likely to say they didn’t have time to care for their loved ones. Male workers spent 27% more time on childcare, compared to a rise of 13% for female workers. 

__Long weekend…__ short week. Four-day-week experimentation isn’t just happening in the UK: companies in the US and Canada recently completed a smaller trial, and pilots are underway in Australia and Brazil. The Spanish government even plans to *pay* companies to try it. But so far, most companies that have experimented with short weeks are small. Many large employers haven’t embraced short weeks, but __[Unilever](https://robinhood.com/stocks/UL/)__ tested four-day work at its New Zealand offices.

Rushing to the three-day weekend (Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images)

Weekender 

__Four days’ work could become the new perk…__ The pandemic transformed the working world, making employers more accepting of flexible arrangements like remote and hybrid work. Four-day weeks could be a new way to attract and retain talent in a still strong labor market. 
But widespread adoption could be hard: it probably wouldn’t work for all businesses, and it’s possible that productivity could go down long term once decisive trial periods end.

The 4-day workweek gains steams as a perk, after positive results from a large trial

__Going hard in the (digital) paint…__ but it's no game. A judge this week [denied](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-22/nba-top-shot-nfts-are-securities-judge-says-in-landmark-case) a request from __Dapper Labs__, the maker of NBA-themed NFTs dubbed “Top Shot Moments,” to toss out a lawsuit against it. The suit, brought by Top Shot Moments buyers, alleges that Dapper’s blockchain-based collectibles are securities and therefore should’ve been registered with the SEC. It’s one of the first judicial decisions addressing whether NFTs are securities.

- __Top whats:__ After Moments launched in 2020, the NFT highlight clips found fast success among non-crypto-native collectors.

- __Top whys:__ Collectors could buy Moments with a credit card, no blockchain knowledge required (just a love of b-ball).

- __Top buys:__ Moments have seen $982M in trading volume, with some sought-after NFTs selling for more than $200K.

__On the rebound…__ While crypto winter chilled the already cooling NFT market, it didn't put it on ice. Last month saw $780M in NFT transactions on the __ethereum__ blockchain, up from $547M in December (but way down from *$5B* in January 2022). And Blur, an NFT marketplace that launched in October, has surged in popularity — capturing 40% of NFT retail trades this month. Meanwhile, __[bitcoin](https://robinhood.com/crypto/BTC/)__ hopped on the NFT train with [ordinals](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/hVxJ5P0UXNj7GiarHRYHR/articles/6h6QfaEiiWIYYTVHHiqAf/). But bubbling NFT hype could be dampened by regulatory scrutiny.

DUNK

__“Fun and games” could get serious…__ While Dapper Labs bills its NFTs as sports collectables, it's not clear if the courts will agree. And although it's no slam dunk, a ruling saying that Top Shot Moments are securities could pressure some crypto businesses to register their NFTs with the SEC and shake up the entire nonfungible industry.

NBA Top Shot heads to court in a case that could classify some NFTs as securities

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In the second half of last year, the US housing market had its biggest plunge since 2008, losing $2.3T in value

 📅 4-day workweek?

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